Cultural Expedition Avannaa 2012

The Boat Expedition Avannaa 2012:It was first and foremost seeking to endeavour cultural exchanges between different settlements in parts of the large Greenland coast. The expedition was prepared, approved and orchestrated by the Director of The Uummannaq Polar Institute (UPI) and Uummannaq Children's Home.

Further, the children are involved in the public presentation of the expedition such as playing background music to the documentary.

The captain on the boat was the inuit hunter Albert Lukassen and he was accompanied by Jaakuaraq Markussen, hunter, Inuunnguaq Zeeb, Ole Jørgen Hammeken and a guest from abroad. The skills and endeavours of Albert Lukassen, and the remaining crew, were documented by Bertrand Lozay, documentary filmmaker, and Else T Lukassen, photographer.

The persons affiliated to the expedition were exclusively employees of the Children's Home.

Children on the Summit:

A Venezuelean-Greenlandic common Climbing and Hike ProjectA production that presents never before told stories of unprecedented achievements. Join an unforgettable group of children as they embark on life-changing journeys through the magnificent mountains of the world. In a world where videogames are substitutes for books, and the internet is a substitute for the outdoors, Children on the Summit reintroduces us to the spirit of adventure that is inherent in every child. A story of young warriors who break through cultural, emotional and physical barriers to experience an unimaginable world where utopias become fascinating realities… The summit is on the trail.

Link to photos from Arctic expeditions:

International Appalachian Trail (SIA/IAT) and UPI

Presentation of the International Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Mountains were formed more than 250 Million years ago during the Paleozoic Era, when the earth's plates collided to form the supercontinent Pangea. They straddled the central part of that continent in what is today eastern North America, eastern Greenland, Western Europe, and northwest Africa.

When today"s continents separated to form the Atlantic Ocean, remnants of the Appalachians ended up in the eastern United States, eastern Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia, the British Isles, Brittany, the Iberian Peninsula, and the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria.

The 2008 hike on the Nuussuaq PeninsulaThe planned route was to begin at Eqaluit, hike to the beach near Qeqertaq. Find passage to Saqqaq (another settlement), then hike up the Saqqaq valley, towards the lakes and river that runs in the centre of the peninsula, follow the water all the way to the west, where the river meets the sea. From here we were picked up by boat and sailed to Niaqornat (the western most settlement in the Uummannaq district), and from here we hiked to Qaarsut, the closest settlement to Uummannaq. In short a three legged trek.Leg 1 - Eqaluit to QeqertaqLeg 2 - Saqqaq to Marrait (the end of the river)Leg 3 - Niaqornat to Qaarsut

Hiking Across Greenland's Nuussuaq Peninsula June 2013In June 2013, IAT North Greenland Director René Christensen, Uummannaq Polar Institute (UPI) Research Fellow and IAT Maine Board Member Will Richard, four local adults and 12 children from the Uummannaq Children's Home hiked across West Greenland's rugged Nuussuaq Peninsula, from Kussuaq on Disko Bay in the Arctic to Eqaluit on Uummannaq Fjord in the High Arctic, a distance of 50kms (30 miles).